Adult Tuna Salad

Hi all,

I love a good sandwich. It's so easy to get stuck in the cold cut rut, just eating deli meats on sandwiches. This does not have to be your lunchtime destiny- there are countless "salad" options for sandwiches. Personally, I'm a fan of tuna salad, chicken salad, and egg salad. Weird thing about me, though, is the fact I don't really like mayonnaise. It kinda grosses me out (it's anonymous congealed fat if you think about it). It can taste good and I ate a lot of sandwiches with the thin film of mayo that made packed lunch sammies soggy by recess. . .but when I started making my own sandwiches I abandoned the goop. Naturally, there is a conundrum: how can I enjoy tuna salad if I'm anti mayo? Well, silly, there is such a thing as no mayo tuna salad. Shocking, but I promise it's good. Give it a whirl!

Adult (No Mayo) Tuna Salad

1 pouch (2.6 oz is what I use) white albacore tuna (in water)

1/2 cup diced onion

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dried parsley

half a lemon

1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish

salt and pepper

1. Heat olive oil in saute pan over medium heat. Once pan is hot, dump in onions. Stir around, until onions start to brown slightly. This will take about 5 minutes. We aren't trying to caramelize these onions, so no need to cook them that long. Sprinkle in the parsley, making sure to crush the parsley flakes by rubbing between your fingers (this helps the flavor come out because it'll release oils, or something like that). Stir to mix the goodness. Squeeze some lemon juice over the onions while they are still hot. No need to use all the juice of the half lemon (unless you like a lot of lemon in your tuna salad). Let onions cool.
2. After onions are cool (can be warm, just not hot as if they came straight out of the pan), mix the onion mixture with the tuna and the pickle relish. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add more lemon juice if you like more acidity.
3. Serve over a toasted roll/bun OR a nice butter lettuce salad mix OR both (butter lettuce with tuna salad on a bun yum). This is quite tasty on its own too.
4. Enjoy. 

I'll try to post more than once a month. kthanksbai

<3HK

Homebaked Pizza: PestoRomaBella

The TJ's pizza dough on floured surface, ready for Bethany

Adding the fresh mozzarella

Dotting the top with TJ's Pesto, Bethany's idea!!!

Voila! Homebaked pizza with homemade honey lemonade!

I have a thing for pizza. I assure you it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm from New York...and more related to the fact I love yummy things. So, after one of my housemates last year Megan made a pizza, I was totally inspired to do the same. I chanced upon Trader Joe's and decided that the best thing to do was buy some garlic herb pizza dough. What happened next pretty much changed my life.

I had fresh mozzarella, baby bellas, a roma tomato, and pesto on hand. Obvi it clicked: these would be toppings for an insanely good homebaked pizza. I don't deserve to call it homemade since Trader Joe made the dough....but it was baked here in my house and that should count for something, right? PS it's basically against my food mantra to eat out of a box or cook out of one for that matter, but sometimes rules are made to be...adjusted for special cases like awesome premade pizza dough. Ok, enough of the justification game- on to the recipe.

Here is it. I invited my friend Bethany over to make this pizza with me so we could eat, drink (lemonade) and be merry. Thank you for all your help if you see this Bethany!

Homebaked Pizza: PestoRomaBella (I tried to be cool)
-ball of pizza dough, enough for 12 inch round
-1/4 cup of all purpose flour
-olive oil (just have the bottle around....)
-a block of fresh mozzarella (8 oz), sliced
-a roma tomato, sliced
-three small to mid sized portabella mushrooms, sliced
-3+1 tablespoons of pesto

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F) and sprinkle some flour on a clean surface, where you'll knead the dough. Knead the dough till it's not so sticky anymore- which you'll be grateful for when you roll it out. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin (seriously, its just one of those things that doesn't seem necessary, but is totally necessary when no other substitute will do) on the floured surface. I ended up rolling it out into a rectangular shape, so it would fit on a cookie sheet.
2. Transfer flattened/rolled out dough onto a cookie sheet. I like to grease the bottom with olive oil, since it'll prevent sticking mishaps and help the dough brown on the bottom. Win.
3. Spread 3 tablespoons of pesto onto the dough. Cover the dough with cheese, tomato/mushroom slices, and dot some pesto on the top.
4. Bake the pizza at 425 for 12-20 minutes or until crust is nice and brown/crisp (if you like the crust this way..either way it needs to be cooked through). The range is big, I know, but it all depends on how thinly you rolled out the dough in the first place. NOTE: if you want to bake the pizza on the oven rack or on a pizza stone (lucky you, owning a pizza stone!), transfer the assembled pizza onto the rack/stone and bake from there.
5. Suggestions: serve with a nice tall glass of honey lemonade. The acidity helps cut through the richness of the cheesy goo.

missing real brick oven pizza,
HK

still hungry (as usual)

Hello,

Anyone out there? It's been such a long time. I've looked through my pictures and realized I never stopped cooking, so why should I stop documenting my food adventures? At one point, I started to think what's the point. More than once I've been asked how many followers I have or who even reads the blog, to which I answer (at first, somewhat embarrassed) "oh it's just for me and my friends who want recipes for the noms I've made." The usual response was a deflated "oh" and after hearing it a few times, I questioned maintaining the blog. FORGET YOU (not you, because obvi you're reading this- I mean those who thought that keeping this blog was a waste of my time). I created this blog so I can remember and share my "recipes." I do a lot of guestimating when I cook and it's hard to recreate the dishes I've made, not only for myself/ my belly's enjoyment, but also when friends are all up in my grill about the recipe for "turkey bolognese" or "dilled potatoes" or anything else tasty.

So, once again, this blog lives on. I must create a living journal of what I've made so we can all enjoy it next time! What's next?
Pictures of my homebaked pizzas of course!

Mozzarella, vine ripened tomatoes, and baby bella mushrooms.

Whole wheat with pesto, fresh mozzarella, and mushrooms (I have a thing for mushroom pizza, don't judge me).

Garlic herbed crust with bruschetta and homemade Italian (turkey) sausage, served with spring salad in citrus vinaigrette.

Actual recipes will come soon, for real!

om nom nom,
HK